Although Apple claims to have a rigorous application review process before putting it on the App Store, a series of fraudulent apps have recently been discovered on the company’s macOS app store.
Software engineer Edoardo Vacci discovered that the My Metronome app would lock and not allow the user to exit the app using the menu bar or keyboard shortcut (however, it could be Force Quit) until they agreed to pay 9, $99 monthly subscription.
According to scam app hunter Kosta Eleftheriou, the developer behind My Metronome appears to have “experimenting various techniques to prevent people from closing the toll window.”
After a tweet from Eleftheriou, My Metronome was removed from the App Store but its developer, Music Paradise also connected with another app development company called Groove Vibes, which created similar scam apps . In fact, according to the information of both companies, they are registered at the same address and both refer to Akadem GmbH.
The Verge has decided to test Music Paradise’s Music Paradise Player app along with all the Mac apps made by Groove Vibes.
All the apps they tested immediately showed a window asking the user to sign up. While the three apps from Groove Vibes allow users to exit using the menu bar or by pressing Command + Q, the company’s two other apps along with the Music Paradise Player app don’t allow the user to click the exit button. on the menu bar and prevent the user from clicking the red button in the corner to close the app. Shortcuts are also unusable
Unlike ransomware, the apps in question don’t lock a user’s files, but instead prevent the user from closing them, leaving them fooled and signed up for a monthly subscription.
Fraudulent apps on macOS
Surprisingly, all of these scam apps made it through Apple’s app review process. Anyway, at least Apple has added a “Report a Problem” button to the App Store so users can warn the company about fraudulent apps.
Not long ago, a developer also accused Apple of lax management, allowing the application to be labeled as free to deceive customers.
Reference: TheVerge
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